Child of Catastrophes

August 18, 2017

My name is James. My mom decited it was tyme for me to keep a jernul. She saz it wil help my speling and maybee with my thots. I think she is crasy. Y does she put this amount of preshure on me? I have skool tomorrow!!

James himself, believes he is a smart kid. Going into the 2nd grade, he is at a reading and writing level of maybe a kindergartner. Because of this, he is bullied quite a lot. His best friend, Daisy, supports him through his troubles. Daisy isn't like James, instead of a low literature level, she is at a fourth grade level in literature. She can't skip a grade though, because her mathematic levels are only average.

I gess the only reson I liek skool is becuz Daisy is there. She is pretty and has a dog named Buster. Buster is with her evry day. Buster folows her evrywher, even to skool! But then she has to leav him and he crys and crys. I showt out to him, "It's ok, she wil be home soon!"

I wish I was Buster...

"James!" James' mother said. "Lunch is done!" The smell of meatloaf filled the air. Passing each and every room of the house, including the basement. "The basement is off limits," James says. "Daddy doesn't like it when you bug him during his football games."James' Mom was different. She was more social and lovey-dovey to her child. James believes that she eats a lot of sugars for her to be so bouncy. When James knew how to spell "can", his mother cheered with streams of water dripping on her cheeks. Jeez, James thought, I didn't mean to make you cry! "No, no, no James!" She cried, "I'm not sad, I'm, happy! So happy! I can't believe you did it! You make me so proud! She held James tightly and made him his favorite food, mothers homemade meatloaf.

My mom just made me meetlof! I haf to go eat or no ice creem. Mom maks the best ice creem, she grabs it from the freezer and puts litle sprinkls on top. Its relly good and I luv it!

James ran to the kitchen, dodging scraps of leftover beer bottles so he wouldn't get hurt. James' mom tried to talk to his dad, but no response. Like most days, dinner at the table was just James and his mom. While eating, you could hear the shouts of his dad's voice, mostly just cursing. ''What do those words mean?'' James would ask. ''Very, mean, and nasty words. Words that only a coward would say.'' His mother would say afterwards. For years, James' mom has contemplated on divorcing his dad. All his actions were full of hatred or laziness. But James' mom didn't want to ruin the littlest bit of family that they had. Very rarely, his father would come out and eat with them. He wouldn't be drunk or angry. He would even smile at James with his progress in his slower reading classes. James believes that he is smart, he still does, but his father could say otherwise. ''James!'' he would shout, ''Wake up, would you? Stop being such an idiot! Learn your freaking language for once! Its not that hard!'' James would dash to his room and slam his door to the point where picture frames fell off the shelves. Putting a pillow against his face, he would scream. He'd scream until his voice gave out. Then he'd wait for the quiet steps of his mother coming up the staircase to see if he was ok. With tears streaming down James' face, he quietly said, "No..."